


Help When It's Needed

by Alpha_Nightmare



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Forced God Of Destruction Errortale Sans (Undertale), M/M, forced god of creation ink
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:28:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27031933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alpha_Nightmare/pseuds/Alpha_Nightmare
Summary: There was once a time where there were two creators and no destroyers. After all, the universe was young and filled with room. One creator, Ink, could paint in whatever he wanted, he was excitable, almost like a child getting an ice cream. He wanted friends, and so, he made them. The other, Stitch,  could make anything with his strings. He was more grounded, mature. While Stitch did want friends, he met the people within the AU's made. He was slow. The two were practically polar opposites. Then one day, Stitch disappeared.
Relationships: Classic x Fell, Dream x Ink - Relationship, Error x Blue, Errorberry, Killer x Nightmare - Relationship, Killermare, Kustard, drink - Relationship
Comments: 4
Kudos: 147





	1. Error

Stitch, A sans with eye lights that changed between light blue, deep green, and dark blue, tear like marks sliding down his cheeks, watched DreamTale as Ink made a new AU. Again. He didn't understand Ink's desire to make AU's. It seemed much more important to just... watch, to make friends by talking to them, not creating them. Looking closely, he saw one of the two princes, Nightmare if he remembered correctly, was being bullied again.

Stitch could never stand bullying, no matter who was being bullied. Stitch stared closely at the tree in the world. This was the second world Stitch actually made. 

Looking at the tree, Stitch made his decision and locked the place down. Ink loved to make copies, see what little differences could do to the world, but Stitch wouldn't allow that. At least, not with this world. It just seemed too... important, for there to be copies of it.

"Why would you do that Stitch?" Ink asked, surprised at seeing the AU being locked down.

"This world just seems to important to have copies be made of it." Ink nodded. He got that feeling with AlphaTale

When Stitch continued watching the AU's, this time Undertale, the very original, he saw something around the corner of his eye. A... red string? Stitch pulled out his own strings from his eye sockets. Yup, blue. So what was with this string? 

"Hey Ink?" Stitch called. This wouldn't have been the first time he'd been pranked by the skeleton. Ink was nowhere around. Odd...

Standing up, Stitch took to grab the string to inspect it. Just when he had reached for the string, he felt it grab hold of his wrist. What? He tugged against it, only to feel it start to pull him away. The two more strings came up and surrounded themselves around Stitch's other wrist, and around his neck.

"Hey! This isn't funny anymore! Ink if this is one of your pranks stop it!" 

But it didn't stop, in fact the tugging continued, but it was getting harder as even more strings started to surround him. Eventually, he had at least five strings on each of his arms and legs as well as 3 strings on his neck. All tugging for him to go in one direction.

Not like he could go in any other direction. The strings would just drag him anyway and he would prefer to not be choked. 

It was when he saw the place he was being dragged to did he start struggling again.

The Anti-Void. The one place both he and Ink agreed to never mess with. They had both seen AlphaTale and the consequences for going in. It was then that at least ten strings came up to him, pulled out his soul, and surrounded it. 

He hated that feeling. That violation. He found he couldn't move at all anymore. Not even his eye lights. The strings had taken complete control. 

He was in the Anti-Void now. The strings were gone. He had control of his body again. But he could still feel the strings. He tried to make a portal, get back to Ink and his dome. 

But he couldn't. The strings around his soul had power over his magic. He was trapped. He desperately looked around, trying to find some way, any way, out. He couldn't. He was trapped in an empty white void. 

He called out for help. He screamed, he cried, he did anything to see if there was someone there. But nobody came.

He didn't know how long he was in there. It could have been months, or days, or even years. All he knew was that he slowly but surely lost his memories. His name wasn't even safe. His bones started to turn black, he started glitching out. His coat turned black with blue tufts while he had a red sweater on. His shorts were black with white stripes and he seemed to be wearing combat boots, dark blue based with yellow strings. His voice broke down into a glitchy mess.

He was alone. With nothing but the clothes on his back. It was that day that he met him. Error 404. 

Error 404 was a white skeleton with a dark blue eye light in his right eye as well as black tear like strands coming from his eye that seemed to leave an imprint on him His teeth were a dark blue and he wore a white cloak with deep blue trim and circles that seemed to connect to each other at the joints. Under that cloak was a black sweater and shorts. And he apparently didn't wear any shoes. Why did this skeleton seem so familiar?

"H-h3l1o?" he asked when he saw the skeleton.

The white skeleton seemed startled that he was there. Why? What was going on?

"Wh@7 ar3 y0U d0ing h3rE?" the white skeleton had asked.

"1 d-D0n'T kn-N0w"

The white skeleton sighed. "Wh@T's y0uR N@m3?"

"I-1 d-d0n'T R3memB3r."

The other skeleton looked startled. 

"D0 yoU R3m3mber aNy7inG? @7 Al1?"

The black skeleton shook his head. The black skeleton watched the white one cautiously as he started to mumble. When the mumbling stopped, the white skeleton reached his hand out. 

"W31l tHEn mY n@m3 i5 3Rr0r 404."

It was after that day, that he managed to find a new home. A new life. Even if all he knew now was the Anti-Void. He eventually decided to be called Error, like 404. The now dubbed Error spent time with 404, learning how to use his powers, even if some of them 404 couldn't do.

Then... the voices started up. They were quiet at first. Whispering in Error's non-existent ears. But they grew louder and louder. To the point that they had started screaming at him. 

It was a week after he told 404 about the voices in his head that 404 went missing. Error looked everywhere for him. It was then that the strings started taking hold again. He had no clue about where these strings had come from, why they had a hold of him, or what they wanted. But they seemed to be in agreement to the voices. 

He had spent years, trying to figure out a way outside of the damn void, the voices yelling at him and the strings hurting him. When he finally managed to get out. He wasn't the same. He was hurting, he was angry, and he just wanted someone to talk to that wasn't constantly YELLING! 

He wasn't exactly sane. And then... came the fights. When he was finally able to make out what was being said between the yelling, things about the balance, about how the creator had over created and how he needed to destroy... to kill. 

He tried it once. In the world he first entered. He just wanted to delete the world and go. But when he saw the innocents being torn apart by the void... it was the straw that broke the camels back.

He wanted revenge. He wanted to get rid of all the damn AU's out there. Destroy them all. Hurt the owner of the red strings, to hurt the creator. He wanted to break him like he was broken. 

It was hundreds of years later, that he finally managed to calm down, and lessen his insanity. It was too late however, by this point, everyone in the multiverse knew of him from Ink and their hundreds of thousands of battles.

He was Error. The forced god of Destruction. He was Error. The one thought to be true evil. He was Error. A broken soul that needed help more than anything.


	2. Meeting The Gang

The day Error met Nightmare was... interesting to say the least.

He was still going through his insanity, so he didn't exactly have a good way to view the guy upon meeting. Then again, it had only been ten years since Nightmare himself had eaten that apple, so they were both going a bit maniac.

He had just about finished destroying the AU when he heard the sound of a portal opening. Not that he knew it was a portal. The only portals he'd ever heard were his that were full of glitches, and Ink's, which sounded more like ink splatters.

" **I was wondering where all this negativity was coming from.** " A voice said behind him. Startled out of now completely destroying the world, Error immediately drew his strings and wrapped the newcomer up in them. The figure, a sans completely covered with goop and tentacles, smiled at him, seemingly liking the fact that he was being tied up.

" **Well. That wasn't expected.** " The goopy skeleton said as he tried to get himself free from the strings, only to fail. Miserably. And somehow wind up upsidedown and even more tangled than before. He growled.

"W-wH@7 d0 yOU w-w@n7?" Error asked annoyed. He felt something in his soul that resonated with this... thing, he just didn't know what it was and it was angering him even more.

" **As I said. I was wondering where all the negativity was coming from. And now I know.** " The figure was grinning, which was weird even in Error's slightly insane eyes. 

"Gr3@t. W3l1 SiNc3 y0u'R3 h3re..." 

" _Don't!_ " one of his more helpful voices shouted at him. Error growled. Of course, they would find a way out of the anti-void to follow him. At least none of the rude ones were here yet.

"A-@nD Why sh-$h0u1dn't I?" He asked, annoyed. The other skeleton seemed confused as well, after all, who was this guy talking to?

" _Because he's important to the balance! Please. Without him, everything will collapse!_ " Error growled. He knew that voice well. It was the most honest voice that he had. They had yet to tell him a single lie. 

"F1n3. y0u'r3 fr3e t0 G-go," Error said, taking his strings off of the goopy skeleton. "Bu7 1f I ev3r $3e y0u ag-ga1n I w0n't b3 as nIc3. L3@v3."

The skeleton looked at him oddly before portaling away with a look of pure confusion.

The second time Error had met Nightmare, he finally caught the man's name. And as promised, he wasn't all that nice to the being. However, Nightmare retaliated heavily. They wound up both having injuries, putting them both back from their tasks.

The tenth time they met was... interesting. Error had finally listened to his voices again and went into a world that seemed to be going through a genocide run, by the looks of things it was an UnderFell copy. 

The thing about this genocide run, however, was the fact that he could sense two anomalies within. Odd.

It was when he finally just said "fUCk 1t," and teleported to the judgment hall that he found the two anomalies. One he immediately recognized as Nightmare, the other... well, he looked like a Sans. It was just he wore a black sweater with a kind of red target on it with pure black eyes, seemingly dripping black ink.

It would be when Error, finally calmed down that he realized that man was filled with pure hatred.

"Wh@y ar3 y0u do!Ng nOw?" Error asked Nightmare upon seeing the new Sans destroy this world's Sans. Not that he didn't appreciate it, less work for him. He just didn't like the anomalies in a world they didn't belong.

" **I'm forming a team Error.** " Nightmare responding, not having frozen upon the glitching voice of the destroyer. " **I want you to meet Killer. The first member of the team.** " Error understood. He finally knew what AU Nightmare was from. DreamTale. He was to spread negativity across the multiverse. Granted, the voices did help him a bit.

"R-r1gh7. W3l1, I gu3s$ I'1l 7haNk Y0u bY l3tTinG yoU L!v3." He pointed that at Killer, and Nightmare knew it. He nodded. They left immediately after that, after all, Error had proven time and time again that he was the better fighter between the two. 

After that, Nightmare seemed to gain new members quickly. The next time Error had met Nightmare, there was Horror added to the small group. Then someone named Dust after about a hundred years. After that... well Nightmare seemed pleased with his little ragtag gang. Didn't mean that Error liked them all that much. 

Sure they had made his job a whole lot easier, with destroying AU's, but then an incident happened. They had gone after an original world, and the voices started screaming at him to do something, anything. Because if that world fell, so would many others. Error didn't really care if he was really honest. He was starting to calm down yes, but he still had years before he was left in his depressive rut.

The only reason he went to talk to the gang was because the voices wouldn't shut up. So with a final grumble about useless voices messing with his ability to destroy AU's, Error left in the middle of his one day break a month he normally had, to go deal with Nightmare.

"S-s0. @t7ack!nG A-an 0r1g!naL W-w0rlD @r3 wE?" Error asked, still slightly annoyed that the voices didn't want an original destroyed. 

"What's it to you?" Dust asked, already sounding annoyed. That was a given, he never liked it when people stopped him from killing.

"N-n07h!ng Mu-ucH jUs7 W0nd-dering 1f N-n1ghTM@r3 kN0w$ w-w-wHa7 he-e'$ D01nG."

Taking a look at Nightmare, he saw pure confusion.

" **Just what the gang and I have always been doing. Spreading negativity around the multiverse.** "

" 73Ll Me N!gH7maR3. D0 yoU kn-N0w wh@7 Th3 b@1anc3 i$?" Now Nightmare looked even more confused. Ah, he didn't. That explained... so much. "!'lL 7-tAk3 Th@t a$ a n-n0"

" **Just what are you going on about Error?** " Nightmare growled.

" _Guess you're going to have to explain to him Error,_ " the kind voice had said. Error sighed.

And so, he had to go on a long explanation to the gang about the balances, their roles, what they're supposed to do, and so on. Nightmare was forced to focus on his connection towards the multiverse and see where the positivity and negativity were.

As it turned out, there was too much positivity in the multiverse. That explained why Nightmare was so focused on putting negativity in the multiverse. The apple that he had eaten had sent him into a primal kind of state, just trying to even out the balance of the multiverse.

In all honesty, Error was surprised by that. He would have thought that with Nightmare's tyranny, the negativity was stronger than positivity. But here they were.

Error had no idea that due to him, Nightmare himself started to calm down, as well as the gang. They all somehow managed to become a family, instead of a gang. Error had no idea that he was now taking steps towards getting better, for him, and those affected by the one who held those strings.


	3. Star Sanses

When Error met Ink, he had destroyed all of ten universes. And with his expertise at the moment... that took about three weeks. Thing was, he was aware of Ink before ever meeting him. The voices made sure of that. Ink was the creator, he created the AU's, and he's starting to tip the balance of creation and destruction. 

So upon Ink introducing himself as well, Ink, Error attacked. The ensuing battle should have been one-sided. After all, all Ink did was create universes, he never battled, he never even worked out. Error should have won. Those red strings weren't kind though. They stopped him from hurting Ink that much.

Ink, for his part, didn't seem to be able to move either, though it could have just been from shock. Both of them were stuck, Error looking at Ink in pure hatred and Ink looking at Error in fear. Eventually, Ink managed to gather himself enough in order to take his paintbrush and make a portal. Where to, Error didn't know at the time. 

All he knew was that the red strings that kept a tight hold on him and his soul liked Ink. And it made him angrier. 

After that... he and Ink met often, at least once every five destroyed AU's, to fight. And as Ink got better at fighting, Error was allowed more freedom to hurt the creator. 

Meeting Dream was pretty average with how he met anyone else. 

There was a slight glitch in an UnderFell world, and as per the voices in the Anti-Void, the strings, and his own job, he left to destroy the world. He was not expecting a type of Sans that had so much gold and teal on that it was practically blinding in the Fell world. 

And the image he came upon when seeing that skeleton, as well as the overwhelming positivity coming off of him, had almost made him burst into pure laughter. The only thing holding him back was him trying to be stealthy. The voices that could follow him didn't have such limitations.

It was of the golden Sans trying to get the world's Sans to just give a genuine smile. It was difficult if you couldn't guess.

"Come on! Just a teensy eensy bitsy little smile! It's not exactly that hard!" the teal and gold skeleton said, waving his arms around and pinching the air between his fingers.

"Listen here bucko, I don't know where you're from, but being cheery is not my forte. Try Alphys when she's torturing someone, but this grin?" the sans of the world pointed towards his obviously fake smile, "Is as good as you're gonna get. Got it?"

The outsider wasn't taking no for an answer apparently. "Torturing isn't good either! Honestly, what do you do for fun! What gets you to laugh, to smile? Can't you think of anything!?" the new one screamed.

TSOTW just put his finger on his chin and hummed softly. "There is one thing that could get me to smile..." he said casually. 

TNO started hopping again. "Really!? What is it?"

TSOTW just grinned. "You leaving, forever."

TNO just slumped his shoulders. "That's not gonna work!" he whined. 

Error just shook his head after that, he had something to do, even if what he was witnessing was the funniest thing he had ever seen. He took his strings and wrapped the two Sans's in his strings, taking TSOTW's soul as well.

While TSOTW tried fighting his strings, only to fail, TNO, however, seemed to be frozen in place.

Error chuckled as he used his strings to search out all of the souls in the AU and at the same time, crushed every single soul that was in his strings. 

He turned towards TNO. "W-wH@7 w3Re y0u d-dO1nG eX@c7lY?" He asked TNO. 

"I-I-" TNO just stammered incomplete sentences. Error scoffed, even with his glitchy voice he at least spoke sentences. He was about to crush that skeleton when the voices spoke up.

" _Don't. He's part of the balance with Nightmare._ " Error stiffened. Of course he was part of a balance. Of course. Turning a glare, Error threw the damn glitch through a random portal and took it upon himself to just destroy this entire world. Taking the soul of the human of this world as well.

It took about a hundred years for Ink to team up with Dream. It just caused Error and Nightmare to have to team up more, to have to rely on each other more, to actually form some sort of trust with each other. Even if it was just barely.

Blue was an enigma. His universe, UnderSwap, was less of an enigma, but still an enigma. The majority of characters had swapped personalities, but kept a slight bit of their original selves. An example being Muffet was a sweet woman however her bakery slightly overcharged people while Grillby was incredibly calm and patient. 

Blue... he acted as if he were a Papyrus. The Papyrus of that world was lazy, however he held that same innocence of the original Papyrus that anyone could change even if they tried. At least, that's what it seemed like when Error first met him.

Granted, Blue had been on the fighting end of him, helping Dream and Ink against the so called 'bad guys'. It was a normal battle really, Ink and Error were both losing as Dream seemed to be concentrated on something else and Blue was just a nuisance. At least, until he fired up a Gaster Blaster taking Error by surprise causing him to retreat, the AU being saved. 

A Gaster Blaster. A large blaster that takes the shape of a dragon skull, charging up and firing at someone, doing damage. A type of attack that any Sans could do. It was also a type of attack that Blue seemed to be behind on, at least according to Ink and Dream.

Seeing Blue again had been... well it wasn't nice. Error was almost calmed down at this point, having gone into a depressive mood, his powers had started to act by themselves, specifically his strings, getting him things he wanted, randomly opening portals to original worlds, showing him something to watch as he tried to get out of his mood.

Error had been trying to get to an UnderSwap copy. That was the honest to goodness truth. So, he went about his routine by then and took every single soul in the AU and smashed them, adding on to his already high LV. 

He was just about to destroy the code of the AU when he saw it. The mark of an original. He stiffened. The only ones that had yet to die had been the Papyrus, now going as Stretch, and Blue. He was in Judgement Hall, Stretch was confronting him. Where was Blue? One would think the brothers would go at this together. 

The battle lasted less than five minutes, with Error dodging, trying to figure out a way out. It was out of the blue that his strings started acting by themselves again. They were wrapped around something... something alive. It took about three seconds for Error to realize that it was Blue, an attack at the ready, and that he held the damn skeleton in his grasp. It took another seven for Stretch to realize that his brother didn't hide like he instructed him to and instead, was here, at the ready for a fight. 

Using Blue as a shield against Stretch, Error took the soul of the Human of that world and left using a portal. This however, wasn't the end as his strings around Blue had yet to deconstruct and in fact, Blue was thrown into the Anti-Void with Error. He was obviously scared and all Error could do was stare, before he growled. 

He thought his strings were acting in a way to help him, even if it was dangerous to let his emotions to guide his magic. Apparently they weren't. And now, he was in the Anti-Void. He was with a member of the 'Star Sanses'. And he had somehow accidentally kidnapped someone.

Fun.


	4. The Kidnapped Blue

It had started off like any normal day for Error. He was destroying universes, dealing with the voices, having to let the red strings take hold and drag him. You know, the usual. He had dealt with Dream and Ink about twice in this entire day which was lucky since he managed to destroy about six universes. 

Then his strings acted up. It wasn't the red ones, nope, his strings had been doing this for a while. How long, Error couldn't say as time was a construct that was immeasurable in the Anti-Void. And even if he hung around an AU to count the time, the time difference in each AU, (made worse by the Player's resets) makes it almost impossible to tell if he had spent, three hours or five minutes in any kind of AU. 

Well, back to the strings, they had taken him to an AU. And Error had let them. After all, even though it was bad for one to allow their magic to take control of things, the strings did take him to AU's that were most likely to crumble. So, he landed in a random AU. And by the looks of things, it was an UnderSwap copy. Looking at the codes, he saw that yes, it was indeed going to crumble soon. 

And so he went to work. He took all of the souls in the AU and shattered them. Looking into the code, he saw that the Chara of the world was in judgment hall. Damnit. He normally caught the kids early on, but apparently, he couldn't. He had to take out the damn kid's soul personally. He knew the risks of not being able to do so.

And so, he teleported into the room. Noticing the kid immediately, he took their soul and separated it from their body, effectively killing the kid while keeping the soul long enough to tangle it. 

The ensuing battle with the Papyrus of the AU was a bore. But his strings seemed to not want him to leave. There was something wrong. So he prolonged the battle. It was when he saw the Sans of the Au, and took his soul out of his body that he realized his mistake. His strings had taken him to the original UnderSwap. 

With Swap Sans still in his strings, he used him as a shield against his brother as he opened a portal to the Anti-void. However, his strings still weren't responding to him. And thus, he now has the Sans in his Anti-Void when all he really needed was to talk to the kids.

And thus, that's exactly how you accidentally kidnap someone. Now, he's stuck with a Star Sans, while needing to talk to the kid of said Sans' world. 

It was... silent. For the longest time, it was silent. Error was looking at Blue with both rage and horror. He growled, and tore at his strings, disconnecting them from his eyes and tying Blue to the ceiling.

He was going to leave him, at least until he finished talking with the kids. Blue looked startled at the fact that Error was going to leave and called out, "W-wait! You're not gonna leave me here, are you?" he took another look around the anti-void. Error did suppose the place's whiteness could be a little overwhelming. 

He still needed to talk to the kids. Looking at the soul, he felt them give him a understanding kind of hum. They knew he couldn't talk right now. That was good at least. But now how to deal with this. 

His strings around Blue won't respond to him, and creating a portal wouldn't help either. Error sighed. Blue was stuck here and the both of them absolutely hated it. 

Error sat down, and to the surprise of Blue, summoned his box of yarn and knitting needles, and started to knit something. What it was, blue couldn't tell, but he did know it held a lot of white and seemingly a bit of red. 

It had been countless hours when Blue noticed that Error had shifted a bit. Seemingly trying to hide a flinch. Error growled. He stood up, and left through a portal. Leaving Blue alone and tied up in the anti-void.

It was hours, maybe days, or even weeks later, that Error came back. Banged up and worse for wear. He looked... tired. Blue had seen that look on Error's face before. When he had been fighting the Stars for about two weeks. Blue couldn't help but feel worried. He often forgot in battle that the person he was fighting was a living being with feelings and could get hurt. Not that it did much when he fought the guy anyways. 

"Are you alright?" 

Error stiffened slightly and turned towards Blue. He was in a worse condition than he normally was after the fights between him and the Stars. 

Error didn't even respond to him, what he did do was use his strings as a kind of wrap around his wounds. Once he did that, he took UnderSwap Chara's soul that had Frisk connected to it. And with that, he left again. 

"!-I'm s0rrY" he told the soul. "M-mY s7r1ngS ar3 ac7!nG uP. I w-w-w0n'7 be aBl3 to SenD BLu3 B-b@cK foR a wh!13."

The soul pulsed. It understood. Though the Chara wanted to know what would happen if they reset without Blue.

"A-@ c0pY oF h!M woU1d bE maDe a7 f@c70ry reSe7."

The soul understood. They liked their Blue the way he was. And he was definitely different from when they had first met him with the first resets.

Now how was he going to deal with the fact that he had kidnapped a member of the Star Sanses. The others clearly knew by the beating they decided to give him. His fucking strings still wouldn't work for him. 

It was during Error's next monthly break that Blue decided to break the ice between them.

"Why did you kidnap me?" It might have been just Blue, but he was starting to hear whispering and he didn't exactly feel sane at the moment.

Error regarded Blue. "M-my S7r!nG5 haVe bE3n @c7inG u-u-Up re-e-ecen7lY. I d1Dn'7 deCid3 to kiDnAP y0u. M-y-y Str!Ng5 juSt woUldN't LeT G0."

Blue knew he wasn't lying. He also knew what that meant. He was going through emotional turmoil, one that he couldn't deal with alone. So his magic would try to help in anyway possible. With Error having strings and clearly being able to tie people up, his magic had resonated and decided that he was the best thing for Error at the moment. 

Why though?


	5. "Why?"

Over the next month, Error worked at keeping the multiverse stable. Just like any other month. In fact, it was so similar, he nearly forgot that he had accidentally kidnapped Blue. The only thing that reminded him about it was the few times he had a fight with Ink and Dream, and the ensuing times into the Anti-Void to fix his wounds.

When Error visited, all Blue could ask was "Are you ok?" That was all that was said. Error never responded and Blue couldn't ask anything else. Then, Error had his monthly break. It never lasted long. 24 hours max. But it definitely helped Error calm down. And at the moment, he needed it.

He was... on the verge of a panic attack. If he even knew that was what it was. FlowerFell was a new Universe that Ink seemed to like creating. And it was starting to take up space. So, Error did his job. He went to that universe and did his job. He couldn't find the Frisk anywhere and looking through the code, he knew why. The kid's soul got drained the more they reset. And it resulted in their death. 

He was... smiling at the death around him. It was the only thing he knew to do. So when the Sans of the AU didn't even try to stop him from killing him, smiling the truest smile he had ever seen on a Sans and said two simple words.

"Thank you."

Error almost broke down. The only thing keeping him somewhat there was the idea of Ink finding him like that. 

And thus, we have him in the anti-void, very nearly falling into a panic attack, the voices around him shouting with very little being worried, the final straw was the feeling of Ink creating another AU. He broke down. He didn't care. He was hurt, he didn't understand, and he just wanted 404 like when he was first formed. 

He felt arms around him. They were... gentle. They nearly reminded him of 404. However, they were different. At this moment, he didn't care. He just continued to cry. Liking the feeling of being held once in... eons.

An hour later, he was just staring at the 'ground' of the anti-void. He chuckled. He finally remembered the only other being within this damned place was the one he kidnapped. Of fucking course. But if he were to hurt him, why did he come over and hug him? Why did he help him calm down? Just why didn't he attempt to attack?

"W-Why?"

Blue looked confused.

"Why what?" 

"Wh-hy h3lp me?" His voice was the clearest he's ever heard it.

"You were hurt! You wanted me to just leave you there?" 

Error didn't respond. He was just surprised he wasn't dead.

They sat there in silence for who knows how long. It was when the voices started to pick up talking again that finally broke the ice. Error was used to these voices. He knew they watched him, how else could they tell he was hurt? But it was when he heard them start attacking him that he noticed Blue flinch.

"C@n y0-ou h3Ar 7h3m?"

Blue looked startled.

" _Of course he can hear us you dipshit!_ " a random voice exclaimed. " _He's been hearing us ever since you left him the second time!_ " 

"I thought they were just a part of my imagination..."

"N0p3. Th3Y're a5 r3@1 aS y0u anD m-m-m3." If he was honest, he didn't even know that these things were real until 5 seconds ago. 

"So... what they said, when you left, about you not liking your job... is it true?"

"7ak3 a gu35s." Blue flinched.

"Y-yeah. But then, why do you do it?"

Error looked at Blue. He had no idea why, but he trusted him. Error summoned his soul. He still had no idea who owned those damn strings. But the moment he does, he's going to fucking destroy them.

  
Blue held back a gasp. That was a lot of chips and... Error doesn't have red strings...

"Th-3se M-m-@k3 s-s-suR3 I Do it. One way or the other."

Blue went in and hugged him. Error stiffened again. But... he didn't pull away. He was... comfortable sitting like that. Just them two. Blue hugging him. It was when he felt a pulse in his soul did he realize he needed to go out and do his job. Just one more fucking AU. His voices were reflecting his thoughts. 

"No." 

What?

"I don't care what they say. You clearly need a break." It was just like 404 when Error started hearing his voices telling him to train and to ignore sleep. 

Error sat there for who knows how long. But it was long enough for him to realize he needed to start attacking again. It was when he got one final look at Blue, now asleep, that he noticed the glitching. This place was corrupting him. Now that Blue was free, he took the skeleton's child, and placed it over Blue. Before he opened the portal to Underswap. And left to destroy more universes. 

When Blue woke up, he was blinded by how dark it was. But... that was odd, the anti-void was never dark. It was when his brother burst through a door did he finally understand. He was in his universe. He was away from Error. After said skeleton clearly had a breakdown. He... Blue broke down. But, his brother was comforting him over "don't worry, you're safe now," or something like that. 

He... couldn't stand getting up after the next couple of resets. Even if he normally did after a genocide. His brother thought it was due to Error that he remembered the resets. Even the player taking control and killing all he knew. But that wasn't it. It never was. He just... didn't understand. Why did Error let him go? What was wrong?

It was a week later that he got into his first fight with his brother. In any timeline. They were fighting about Error. 

Blue was trying to explain to his brother about how Error didn't mean to kidnap him. Pappy just wasn't listening to reasoning. He kept rebutting all Blue had learned about Error, (leaving the breakdown out, which, he thought later, was probably harming his argument, but he wouldn't tell another soul about the breakdown unless Error gave permission. He knew he didn't like others knowing about his breakdowns.)with the same, "He was destroying the world! He could have killed me! He could have killed you!" It was... getting annoying. 

He was pissed, and he was glitching. The only reason he knew this was because he took notice of his voice. It was an hour later that he calmed down enough to really understand what happened. He was glitching. He was being affected by the anti-void. He looked at his hands. Was this the reason Error sent him away?


	6. The Aftermath

The following weeks were hard on both Error and Blue. Blue was getting used to the Anti-Void. So him waking up in darkness was unnerving for him. And when he heard the voices from the AV as he had taken to calling it, he felt like he was going crazy.

Error on the other hand, had gotten used to at least hearing Blue whenever he entered the Anti-Void. It was... odd for him not to have Blue there with him. Ever since his breakdown, he just avoided FlowerFell like the plague. He just... couldn't stand that world. 

He met Nightmare again. It was... odd. Nightmare could tell he was different and Error could tell the same for Nightmare. 

Upon first glance, Nightmare asked him the one thing Blue always asked. "Are you alright?" It was deeper and had a bit of an echo. It was enough to keep Error there but he just nearly broke down again. 

Error had growled. "W-wH@7 d0 y-y-yOu 7h1n-n-nk"

Nightmare had backed away a bit. "Woah there. I... thought about our last conversation..."

Error raised a bone brow. Their last talk was.... oh! Nightmare and his gang had attacked an original AU. Right. That felt like forever now.

"And..." Nightmare sighed. "It made me think if my actions were mine, or the balance just desperately needing me."

Error hummed.

"It was the balance. But you knew that. Didn't you. I... I'm going to be doing something different with the gang. You're welcome to join if you want." 

"r-R-R3al1y. W-w-whY"

"Considering I'm actually paying attention to your soul and the emotions coming from it. You need help. Heh, we all need help."

"Y-y-Y0uR g37ting 5apPy"

Nightmare shrugs. "Suit yourself. Just know the offer is there alright?"

Error stared as he watched Nightmare leave. It took him five minutes for him to remember what he was doing in this AU anyways. He destroyed the AU he met nightmare in and moved on.

Blue was... well, he was trying to get Ink and Dream to see a bit of reason. It was failing horribly. Though, he did take note that Ink kept flinching like he was being tugged every so often.

Blue was forced to go to therapy. There was a slight problem with him and the colors, his vision had gone off slightly, but other than that, he was fine. His psychiatrist had said so. And thus, he was free to go so long as he now wore glasses when he's traveling.

He just never mentioned the voices that started appearing. And he knew he wasn't crazy simply because Error heard them as well. 

Ink was... well, Ink was clearly acting different. And it wasn't anything major either. If one weren't looking closely, they would have never noticed it. Blue noticed it though. And he came to the realization that this had been going on since before Error kidnapped him. It just took him being kidnapped for him to notice. 

Ink had the tendency to flinch occasionally and had a slight tug going at his hands and feet constantly. It explained his tripping. And Blue could have sworn he heard the voices from the void talk to Ink. 

It took a month before Error agreed to come to Nightmare's base. And when he did, he instantly saw the chaos. And... he noticed how connected they all seemed. He felt... out of it.

Nightmare had caught a look with him. They both felt like outcasts with this group. Nightmare had started joining in not that long before him and thus, they were out of it.

It took a while, probably another 3 months before they could really be known as a group. Granted, it took Error a lot longer since he had to do his job. 

Blue's three months were... weird. He stayed in contact with Ink and Dream but... he was distant. He couldn't get Error's break down out of his head. It was... genuine. He knew that. The voices in his head weren't exactly helping either. 

_What are you doing idiot! go and destroy!_

_This is stupid._

_Murderer._

_Freak._

He heard it. He knew it wasn't for him, but he heard it. Problem was, whenever he was around Ink, the voices doubled. It was... weird but there were second sets of voices yelling. He could only hear create here or there and it was... disorienting. He eventually learned to just ignore the voices but they were interesting to hear on occasion.

Blue just knew he had to talk to Error again. He didn't care how, or where. He just needed to talk to him.

How was the question.


	7. The Truce

Another month later, Ink somehow made contact with his 'home' and went to talk to him. It wasn't... a good meet up, to say the least. The moment Error came back to the Anti-Void after a long run of destroying AU's and no interference from Ink, he knew something was up. And that was way more evident by the fact that there was a section now that was completely covered in paint, and still being painted. 

It was a godsend that whenever Error had a fight with Ink, the voices had shut off. A true godsend.

However, back to the matter at hand, Ink was there, in the only home he's ever known, and was messing it up. That wouldn't do. He had immediately taken ink into his strings, startling the white skeleton. 

"W-wh@7 aR3 y0-oU d-d-d0!nG heRe!"

"O-oh! um..." Ink looked around the place. "Looking for you?"

"Y0-u w3Re looK!ng f-f-foR m3?"

"Yup! I um... ah jeese how do you start this..." his eyes were yellow diamonds. "I um... wanna start a truce."

Error stared at him in shock for a second before snapping out of it. "w-what d0 You M3@n trUc3?"

"I mean... I stop creating and you stop destroying..."

"W-wh@7's th3 Ca7cH?"

"No catch! I will 100% stop creating so long as you stop destroying!" Error noticed a slight curiosity at his strings.

"W-wh@7 maK3'5 y-y-y0U 7hINk i'1l b3l!3ve YoU?"

"You... you don't have to. I... I just want this damn battle to end."

Error looked at him in shock.

"Y-y0u'r3 k!dDIn-ng m3."

"Nope! No more creation so long as you don't destroy." 

Error looked at Ink suspiciously but nodded his head. He understood.

Ink had sighed, that was as good as he was gonna get. "Can you... let me go?" He had tugged slightly on the strings still holding him.

"Y-y3@h." He let ink go. "N-0W l-l3@vE."

Ink nodded, and left through an ink portal of his. Error growled and destroyed the color that was in the Anti-Void. 

This was... new. Ink had made an actual truce with him... and he didn't need to destroy anymore...

" _Wow, what an idiot._ "

" _Get back to destroying you idiot. The multiverse may not be in a horrible state, but it's still not balanced_."

" _Shut up you two! He deserves a fucking break, let him have it with this truce!_ "

" _Yeah! This is going to be amazing!_ "

Error looked forward at where he just removed the paint. And slowly but surely, he smiled, he started laughing, and not an insane laugh either, just a true, happy laugh that hadn't happened in years. His laughter soon added tears to that mixture. This moment was the happiest he had been since 404. 

Hours after, Error would question just how the hell Ink got into his home when he realized his home was still under lockdown to everyone but him.

It didn't take long for both Dream and Nightmare to notice a sudden change in one being's mood. It was confusing Dream however, as he didn't know who the sudden happiness belonged to. But he didn't really care as it was just a boost in his energy. The one who found this odd and slightly unsettling was Nightmare. He might not have known Error all that much, but he knew the man enough to know that something major happened to cause this happiness. Nightmare would admit, he was curious, and if he had the chance, he would enter the Anti-Void, he would. However, he was still locked out. 

Error told everyone in the base about a week later when he could finally get his emotions under control. It was also that day, that the gang figured out Error crashed on physical contact after a massive group hug. Ever since, Error could hang out more. He made friends with the group. He went on picnics with them, he hung out, they all helped each other when they had problems with nightmares, even if he never slept.

He was happy. And while yes, the gang did still go out to reak havoc on AU's, it was mainly to A) keep the balance of negativity and positivity, and B) to relieve some stress some of them may have had. Hey, they were insane murderers, not misunderstood children, and none of them were qualified psychologists. Besides, Error had enough with killing so he mostly stayed at the base.

It had gotten peaceful with the group. At some point, Horror had handed Error a basket of string and knitting needles and asked him if he could make anything out of them. Error had discovered pretty quickly that while he knew what to do, he was a little rusty, even if he didn't even know what he was doing. It had taken him a month to finally know what the hell he was doing and that he enjoyed it. He had fun. 

Took a little bit later, when the gang had finally had an encounter with Dream after a while, that he generally liked anything that had to do with strings. He didn't know why, but it interested him, and it kept him busy. Plus, he felt like less of a burden on the group considering he was essentially staying there doing nothing. By the looks Nightmare kept sending him, he was being obvious. Or he just knew. He was the guardian of negativity for a reason. 

A year later, he met Cross. Or... ran into him more like. With Ink. It was... unnerving to say the least. What was even more unnerving was how glitched out his soul was. His code would practically collapse if it wasn't fixed. 

And thus, was the second time his magic acted without his command, taking Cross's soul. It was... weird. It was half human half monster, fused together haphazardly. Granted, Nightmare chewed him out for doing such a thing but stopped when he got a look at the soul. It had confused both of them. And Error felt a strong need to fix it. And then, Nightmare felt it. A strong surge of negativity and positivity coming from the AU. 

And so, as Error somehow started working on getting the two halves to cooperate, Nightmare recruited Cross. 

The ensuing war harmed the group in more ways than one. 


End file.
